As a young student, I excelled and completed by studies by age 12...but the University would not accept an applicant until age 16...so I patiently stayed in the same grade for four years!

I may or may not have been the first to publish the idea of elliptic functions.

Impressed with the neat "inversion of the functional relationship" in elliptic integrals, I formulated this maxim as the secret of mathematics: "You must always invert."

Though they are named after me, I did not create a simple form of functional determinants...rather I am credited because I was known as an enthusiastic "algorithm builder."

During a Prussian revolution, I made politcal speeches against the government...that created ill-will to the extent that the Prusian government basically took away my salary and university position.